Can MacBook Neo charge faster with a better charger?
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld testing reveals that the MacBook Neo can charge faster with higher-power adapters, although it comes with Apple’s smaller 20W laptop charger.
- A 96W adapter charged the Neo by 30% in 30 minutes, compared to just 15% with the included 20W charger.
- Charging for the MacBook Neo appears to be capped at around 24 watts, and Apple doesn’t officially list fast charging support for this model.
If you buy a MacBook Neo, you’ll get a 20W USB-C power adapter, the smallest charger on any Apple laptop. Apple sells higher wattage adapters ranging from 35 watts to 140 watts, and you can find third-party adapters with more features. The Neo’s charger is bulky and only has one port, so most people who buy one will likely use a different adapter that provides more power.
However, the MacBook Neo does not officially support fast charging like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Apple never mentioned fast charging during its March 4 Apple Experience, and Apple’s support document on MacBook fast charging doesn’t include the Neo either.
So it shouldn’t matter what type of charger you use with the MacBook Neo. But we wanted to make sure there was no difference if a higher wattage adapter was used on the Neo. We tried charging a Neo’s battery to 20 percent to see how much it would gain in 30 minutes using Apple’s 96W USB-C power adapter and the included 20W USB-C power adapter. Here are the results.
| Charger | Change after 30 minutes |
| 20W USB-C power adapter | +15% |
| 96W USB-C Power Adapter | +30% |
It’s… not the same. This also doesn’t meet Apple’s definition of fast charging, which is up to 50% battery in about 30 minutes. So we did a little digging.
Below are screenshots from the Battery Health 2 app, which I used to examine charging rates. The photo on the left is with the 96W charger; the good move is with the 20W charger. In the section called “Charging with,” the 96W charger was twice as fast as the 20W charger. On The Full Nerd Podcast, we plugged in a 250-watt charger and the rate was similar to the 96W charger. It appears that the MacBook Neo’s charging rate is capped at around 24 watts if you use a faster charger than the bundled 20W charger.
Charging the MacBook Neo with a 96W charger (left) and a 20W charger (right).
Foundry
So, based on these results, you can get a faster charging speed if you use a higher wattage charger. But you don’t get the “50% in 30 minutes” that Apple touts with the fast charging of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, which is probably why they don’t advertise it as being capable of fast charging.
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on our findings and will update this article if we hear anything.
